Thomas Santerne Wins Second EPT €50,000 Super High Roller of the Year

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Dec 09, 2024 3 min read

If something's worth doing, then it's worth doing twice. Tell that to Thomas Santerne who, ten months after his victory in the EPT Paris €50,000 Super High Roller has grabbed another €50,000 Super High Roller title at the European Poker Tour Prague.

Santerne defeated Niklas Astedt heads-up to win €385,725 after a heads-up deal with the Swede, topping a 25-player field in the biggest buy-in event of the festival just days after winning the €20,000 High Roller.

EPT Prague €50,000 Super High Roller Results

Winner's Reaction

"It's so nice to battle in this kind of high stakes tournament," Santerne told PokerNews shortly after this victory. "Especially finishing up against Niklas. When I first started playing online poker tournaments, I always saw him as the GOAT of poker. Now I'm winning a €50k against him — it's insane."

"When I first started playing online poker tournaments, I always saw him as the GOAT of poker"

Santerne joined the field on Day 2 and said he saw how talented the field was, albeit without some of the regular marquee faces.

"It was still tough though," he admitted. "The thing is, I won the €20k a few days ago, and the feeling is just so great."

Day 2 Recap

The day began in comic fashion. On Day 1, Niklas Astedt and Nikita Kuznetsov had made a bet on the size of the field. And with the tournament clock showing 24 players, Astedt was in pole position to take down that bet. However, the late arrival of Enrico Camosci bumped it up to 25 — the number Kuznetsov needed to win.

Camosci, for his part, didn't last long. He was the fourth bustout of the day as start-of-day shortstack Igor Yaroshevskyy along with Kazuhiko Yotsushika and Paulius Plausinaitis all made early exits.

Thomas Santerne was making moves early, and was one of the first players over one million chips, finally silencing a garrulous Martin Kabrhel after the Czech player bust with a king-high bluff.

Kuznetsov joined Santerne in the seven-figure club, and led the final table of nine, with just five places paid. Markkos Ladev exited, with Viacheslav Buldygin — who had been the first to re-enter on Day 1 — also falling short of the money.

PokerStars Ambassador Sam Grafton was next to go at the hands of Kuznetsov, who was responsible for bursting the bubble. He made the nut straight on a turn that also gave Teun Mulder two pair, and the Dutchman called a shove on the river for his tournament life, only to come off second best.

This guaranteed the remaining players €113,000, with short stacks Sergey Lebedev and Espen Jorstad looking for important ladders.

Jorstad would bust first at the hands of Kuznetsov, who had momentarily relinquished the chip lead after an Astedt double, but a crucial double for Lebedev proved he had staying power.

Over an extended period of four-handed play, punctuated by Lebedev shoves, Santerne had eked out a slender lead as Kuznetsov went in back. He would ultimately exit in fourth place, with Lebedev soon behind him and play was suddenly heads-up.

Heads-Up Play

Santerne would extend his chip lead over Astedt over the opening exchanges of heads-up play, before an Astedt double levelled the chip stacks. The pair almost immediately agreed to a deal which would see them continue playing with €25,000 extra awaiting the winner.

• Thomas Santerne: €360,725
• Niklas Astedt: €355,775

The pair also increased the blinds from 20,000/40,000 to 50,000/100,000. Both players adapted well to the increased blinds and change in dynamic, shoving to try and forge a gap that could prove decisive, and it was the Frenchman who held the lead when the final hand came.

Astedt had flopped both straight and flush draws against the turned top pair of Santerne. The pair got their chips in the middle, with the river bricking, and Santerne's victory over his former idol was secured.

Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He now works as Managing Editor. He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.

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• Tags EPTPrague24 Enrico Camosci Espen Jorstad European Poker Tour Igor Yaroshevskyy Kazuhiko Yotsushika Markkos Ladev Teun Mulder Martin Kabrhel Thomas Santerne Nikita Kuznetsov Niklas Astedt Viacheslav Buldygin
• Related Tournaments European Poker Tour
• Related Players Igor YaroshevskyyMartin KabrhelNiklas AstedtViacheslav BuldyginEnrico CamosciKazuhiko Yotsushika